Polish Underground State

The Polish Underground State was Poland's government-in-exile that waged guerrilla warfare against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945 during World War II. The Undergrund State was allied with the Western Allies and not the communist Comintern, which had its own communist Polish government-in-exile, the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN). The Underground State was abandoned by nearby Red Army troops during the failed Warsaw Uprising in 1944, and the revolt was crushed; in January 1945, its Home Army dissolved as the Red Army advanced into Poland. Many Underground State leaders fled to the United Kingdom or other Western countries, while those who remained in Poland were persecuted by the Soviet Union and the Polish People's Republic, being called "traitors" and employees of "foreign elements" (the MI6 or CIA) and being either executed (the majority of them) or imprisoned. During the Cold War, the communist government emphasized the role of the PKWN in the liberation and covered up information on the Underground State, and only exiled Polish historians were able to give accounts of its activities.